Birth From The Ashes
by horrorboyify
Summary: Before Han, Leia, Chewie and Lando enter the room on Cloud City, Vader thinks about his son, and that life changing day on Mustufar...


_**Hey so…it's been a while. I'd like to start this story off by apologising to people who were enjoying the last story I wrote about Portal. I still love the game and tried to go back to it on many occasions but feel like I wrote myself into a corner and it felt like I couldn't do anything without it being predictable and like a lot of other portal stories (Not knocking the writers of other Portal stories at all though, I love some of their work).**_

 _ **Anyway now that's out of the way I'm hoping people will like this story and I'm hoping my writing has improved. I'm considering this more of a test as I'd like to write a longer fanfic In the future but I've always found the mentality of Vader very interesting, anyway, on with the story.**_

Darth Vader stared out of the orange tinted window, at the cloud city before him. Several ships sped past but he barely even saw them, much less heard them. In just a few hours he would meet his son, the one remaining piece of his old life…no…Anakin Skywalker's life. His mechanical, leather covered fist clenched as anger boiled through him while his eyes squeezed shut behind the mask, his loud breathing becoming faster as he had to focus on not causing the window in front of him to crack. He ignored the slightly startled look from Boba Fett beside him. Once he had managed to calm himself slightly he went back to looking out of the window, his breathing slowing. His eyes squeezed shut behind the cold, black mask as he inadvertently cast his mind back, to the day it had all changed. That was the day that Anakin Skywalker had died, that was the day Vader had been born, crawling from the ashes like some kind of destroyed phoenix. But this birth had not been joyous for anyone, aside from perhaps his master. Even for Vader himself it had brought nothing but anger, hatred and pain…so much pain. His hand rested against his chest which remained scarred and burnt. One might think that after all this time the pain would have lessened, but it certainly hadn't. Vader still felt the agony of his burns constantly as they brushed against the leather of his suit, the physical torment that came with each slight movement of his limbs or at least what remained of them and the torture that each breath brought, sending a burning sensation through his throat with every single loud inhalation and exhalation.

Once again he struggled to reign in his anger as he focused on the constant agony in which he lived, his mind finding only one culprit on which to pin all this on, Obi-Wan Kenobi. His teeth gritted at the thought of that hated name. The name of the man who had left him in this state, left him to die in pain all those years ago. Granted Vader had felt some respite when he had struck down his former master on The Death Star. But there hadn't been any begging or even a body, even in death Obi-Wan had managed to rob Vader of what little he had. A man who had betrayed him and caused the death of his beloved wife.

His body shook as his thoughts once again drifted to Padme. The only woman he had, and would, ever love. When she had arrived on Mustufar it had shocked him to the core, why had she come? The time wasn't right to explain everything, to tell her all he had done for them, for **her.** But as they embraced he had realised, he needed to tell her everything, he needed to explain how much they could now achieve and how they could bring peace to the galaxy. However, it had not gone like he had wanted. She had rejected him, pushed him away and denounced him. The anger and mental pain he felt at that time had been indescribable, could she not SEE what he had done for her? How much he had sacrificed and how much he had done to keep her alive? Still he had managed to try to tell her everything and bring her to see reason. But then she spoke those words, the words that still shook him to his very core:

" _I can't believe what I'm hearing, Obi-Wan was right, you've changed."_

Once again the anger had boiled within him, threatening to spill over. However, once he felt ready to once again try to make her see reason, he had seen him, Obi-Wan, that name once again causing him to grit his teeth. Once Vader had seen him any sense of logic or reason had been crushed into dust. She had betrayed him, sold him out to the man who had once been his brother in all but blood. Then…the dreaded moment had come, the moment that still caused him more pain than the burns or severed limbs. The moment where he had reached out and choked his wife, choked her as he watched the anguish in her eyes, tears threatening to spill over down those beautiful cheeks. Then only Obi-Wans insistence had made him let her go, and by that point he had seen red. Feeling nothing but anger and betrayal towards his wife and old friend. A small crack appeared in the top left corner of the window as Vaders concentration once again slipped, causing Fett to take a nervous step to the side, not knowing what was going through the dark lord's head and not really wanting to know. Vader ignored him as his breathing once again slowed to a steady pace. No matter how much he wanted to keep hold of the anger, it slipped like it always did, into pain and self-hatred. How could he have even hurt her, let alone kill her? And after that, after the duel with his former master, after becoming mutilated beyond repair, he had still gained no form of pleasure. Instead he had been strapped to a table and locked into this cold, black, mechanical suit. It had been so long since he had even felt anything let alone smelt or tasted, but this had further drove him into the dark side of the force and led him to grow more and more powerful. But now, unlike before, a new form of respite passed through him. His son was alive, which meant Padme had lived long enough to give birth to him. The emperor had lied to him. It was not a question; Vader knew it to be true. The thought had made Vader nearly kill several Stormtroopers the first time he had it, the one man he had trusted and protected for all these years had lied to him just to make Vader further reliant upon him. But now it would all be different, when his son was told the truth and brought to the dark side, they could overthrow the emperor and rule the galaxy together, as he and Padme should have done long, long ago.

Finally, he would have all he had wanted, and once it was within his grasp, the thoughts of that day of death and rebirth could finally be put at rest. He'd have a new focus, a new apprentice. Anakin Skywalker would no longer burden him and could finally be fully destroyed as he should have been. He was snapped from his thoughts as he sensed footsteps approaching the door behind him. Luke's friends, the first phase of his plan could now begin, and soon his son would be standing by his side. He placed his hands by his sides, _almost_ smiling beneath his mask, as he heard the door slide open behind him…

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **So yeah I know it's short but it's more me just trying to get back into writing until I can start on an idea with more longevity. But I still hope you enjoyed.**_


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